On Saturday an old friend of Levent's and his family came to visit from Ankara. We had a busy day getting ready for the company and I took Mete out to the waterfront and around the neighborhood for over three hours. We had a good time and the weather was sunny, but cool so it was nice to be outside for so long. He worked hard on talking to me and we seemed to communicate well. I enjoyed visiting with Levent's friend, his wife and his sister. His friend is a professor at a University in Ankara, his wife is a computer programer for a California company and his sister is a biologist.
Then on Sunday, the whole family went across Istanbul to Levent's brother's house to visit. Levent's mother was there too. I used this time to go to the Pera Museum and catch up a bit on some of my internet time. I've posted photos from this Museum on my picasa page:
https://picasaweb.google.com/117120466845854055422/PeraMuseum
On Monday, Elif, Mete and I went to water front and walked around it onto a canal leading to a different park. Actually, Elif and I walked and Mete was able to ride his bike. We then went to Elif's mom's for the late afternoon and stayed for dinner. We were invited due to the holiday. Levent has been working on a project at work so had gone to work for the day, but joined us for dinner.
Tuesday Elif, Mete and I again went out on our own. We walked through the local area again, Mete got a hair cut and we had Durem Doner's (Lamb Wraps) for lunch at a little place close by. We then went to an area by the first bridge over the Bosphorus where I visited a summer palace and Mete went fishing while Elif got to sit out in the winter sun! The Palace was fabulous and I was quite happy to visit it as I had seen it on my first day here in Istanbul when I took one of the "hop-on & off" bus tours. We had a great time after I joined them: I watched the fishermen for awhile and then we stopped in a cafe and had hot drinks and goodies and then caught the bus back home. The bus both ways for this trip took quite some time, as the traffic was horrendous, especially around the cemetery that we passed as so many people were trying to visit family grave sites. There weren't many buses running, so the bus was very crowded. On the way back, we decided to take a different route and make a transfer. Wow, sooo many people and so many vehicles. We took a "dolmash" - a van that runs between two points and costs much less than a taxi -- from the transfer point instead of a bus. It was dark by the time we got back to our waterfront and walked home. All along the water front are fish restuarants -- well, I guess restarants - as all they sell are fish sandwhiches. Were there aren't restaurants, there are ferry landings, and in between all of this, are men fishing. Mete just loves all the fishing to-do, and always stops to talk to the fishermen.
Today was our last day of the holiday and we went to "Miniaturk" which is a really cool outdoor museum with models of many of the famous buildings throughout Istanbul and Turkey. Interesting to look down on the buildings, especially the mosques, as it is such a different perspective than looking up at them!
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